Testament
Chris Hondros
Getty Images
For a reporter, war reporting stands as the professional Holy Grail, a grail that does not necessarily have to be reached, for there are plenty of things to do in the photography business without having to plunge into the wild extremes of human folly. Yet, in the ranking of reports, whether in pictures or words, war exerts an irresistible attraction as the ultimate goal; and it is a difficult goal to attain, requiring certain circumstances, opportunities, support and confidence. And there comes a time when strength is needed to make the leap into the unknown.
Chris Hondros was the person who introduced me to war. He had taken the leap into the unknown well before I ever did. In our time it was called “Airport Road” in Baghdad, a road that had to be taken on the way to the realms of war and conflict.
In 2006, I was the Paris Match correspondent in the United States, and the word “Iraq” was in every second story I wrote. It was an obsession. American society saw Iraq as epitomizing the drama of the era. The power of the United States was there in action, followed closely by the nation in all its fragility, stupidity and fear. For the average American on the street, Iraq meant the free world versus the bearded hordes. Behind it all was 9/11. Some chose to ignore it, others chose to believe, but either way it was the clash of civilizations, there, staring us in the face. I had to be honest with readers; I needed to tell the full story, and there was one big piece missing from the American jigsaw, and that piece was Iraq.
Preview
Chris Hondros took me to Iraq; and later to Afghanistan. Wherever the world was falling apart, Chris would be there. I got to know him in Iraq, and that was where I also got to know myself. Chris was not interested in any exotic aspects of these different places; he loved the human adventure happening there. He wasn’t the least bit interested in Iraq as a country, in the mysteries of Babylon, or the extravagant behavior of the dictator. The US Army was of no real importance to him, although he did spend so much time with the “boys” that one day a captain jokingly suggested that he could qualify for a veteran’s pension. What fascinated him was the US military occupation of Iraq, just as he would have been fascinated by the occupation of France in the Second World War, and the American troops in Vietnam.
Robert Capa and Larry Burrows had forged the way, had initiated the tradition of the thinking photographer. Hondros, as he liked to be called, was a perfect fit for that tradition. He was the guy who could not only take a photo but who was also able to talk about it, either as a formal speech or over a drink in a bar in New York.
Chris Hondros was determined to see the contrasts in the world, contrasts when two different communities learn to cope with one another, when they have to live on the same block, breathe the same air – for a long time – and beginning with virtually nothing in common but that air. Chris Hondros wanted his pictures to explain contrasts, to grasp the moments that make up History, and also to record the spark of humanity which, in the midst of chaos, is a bond uniting all humans.
*Régis Le Sommier Associate Editor-in-Chief, * Paris Match
